SIX

Abby didn't know what time Cain usually went to bed but she usually went to sleep around 11 and it was already past 11, it was almost midnight. The movie had been over long ago and they had been watching TV for a while. The only thing that was really on at that time were news so it wasn't like they were watching anything interesting. Cain had already yawned several times but Abby didn't know if it was because he was bored or because he was sleepy. Most likely it was the latter since it was late. She didn't know what to do though. All she knew was that they were going to be living together for two weeks but they hadn't discussed sleeping arrangements yet. Her apartment was big and she had a second and third bedroom. One of them was used as her office and the other one was smaller so she just used it as a storage room. But there was only one bed and it was in her bedroom.

"Are you tired? Want to go to sleep?"

She had to ask him since he probably wasn't going to say anything. He was really just a guest and as a host she was supposed to be the one that had to offer the guest a place to sleep.

"Well I guess I'm a bit sleepy..."

The sofa they had been sitting on was a sectional so it was probably big enough to sleep on. Cain was somewhat tall but she was sure that she could still sleep on the sectional just fine. She had taken naps on there a few times before and it was actually comfortable to sleep on. The only bad thing were the big windows in the living room which let in a lot of sunlight. She had curtains but they weren't really all that thick.

"I'll go get the bed ready for you."

The bed was actually already made because she always made it each morning but Abby just really wanted to get a few things out that she didn't want Cain to end up seeing. She stood up and left to her room but she hadn't noticed that Cain had followed after her. The first thing she did once she was in her room was rummage her nightstand.

Sex toys, the ones women use to pleasure themselves with. She had several of them. A wand vibrator, a clitoral vibrator, a rabbit vibrator, a clit suction, and a dildo. She hadn't used them in a while, not since she became a germaphobe and didn't like the idea of putting things that could possibly be dirty inside of her.

She grabbed a box that was under the bed and put them all in there. She was going to have to go out to throw them away, something she didn't usually do. Her mom was usually the one that took out all the trash for her. She hated the idea of touching something as dirty as a trash can, especially one that everyone else in the apartment complex used but she had no other choice. She was going to have to if she didn't want Cain to see those things. Wearing multiple layers of gloves and a face shield along with a mask, were going to have to suffice for her.

Cain was surprised to see all the things Abby had taken out of her nightstand. He realized that she hadn't noticed he followed her. He saw that the bed was already made so that only meant that the real reason why she wanted to go to her bedroom was to get rid of all those things. And that meant that she hadn't wanted him to see them so Cain decided to quickly go back to the living room. He just had to pretend that he hadn't seen any of that. He had actually followed her to her room because he wanted to tell her that she could sleep in the bed and that he would just sleep in the sofa if that was fine with her. All he really needed was a pillow and a blanket. He thought that with her tiny body he would have no problem sleeping on the sofa.

"The bed is all ready. You can go in now."

Abby came out with the box along with a pillow and a blanket in hand.

"Well actually…I was thinking that maybe you should sleep on the bed. I could sleep here on the sofa if it's fine with you, if not then I could also sleep on the floor."

Abby cleaned her floors often, multiple times a day but she could still not believe that he would even suggest such a thing as sleeping on the floor. She would never do that and she was not going to allow for him to do so either.

"Well I'm definitely not letting you sleep on the floor. But how about we do this, you sleep on the bed tonight and I'll sleep on it tomorrow. We can take turns, one day you'll sleep on it and the next I will and so forth. And whoever doesn't sleep on the bed will sleep on the sofa."

It sounded like a good idea to Cain, except for one thing.

"Ladies first."

"Huh?"

"You said I should sleep on it tonight but I think you should."

Cain thought that she must have had a rough day since not only did she switch bodies with someone else but she had also learned that she was going to have to pretend to be an idol and do things she was not comfortable with doing. If anyone deserved the bed Cain thought that it was her.

"Fine." She just really wanted to sleep so she agreed.

Still having something she had to take care of before going to bed, Abby went to her supplies closet and prepped herself up. Cain was already laying down on the couch when he saw her walk out with a box, THE BOX. He pretended to be asleep but he could see that she was taking the box out with her. She had a mask, face shield and gloves on. He could only imagine what she was about to do, she was probably going to be throwing out the things that had been in her nightstand. He hoped she wasn't doing so just because of him. It was understandable for women to own such things, he didn't think there was anything wrong with it. Sure it could be a bit embarrassing for others to find out you own such things but there were a lot of people out there that owned the same things. At least women were lucky to have so many sex toys available for them, men didn't have as many.

Cain was still pretending to sleep when he saw Abby return. The first thing he saw her do was go straight to the bathroom. He heard the sound of water but it didn't sound like it was coming from the shower, it sounded more like the sink. He could only assume that she was washing her hands but the water went on for several minutes. He wondered if she always washed her hands that long. He thought that perhaps something he could do for her was to maintain her hygiene habits. She was a Germaphobe so the least he could do for her was to maintain her body clean just like she was doing with his.

Cain ended up falling asleep before he was able to see her walk out of the bathroom. He ended up having a dream where Abby was performing on stage with Adam except she wasn't in Cain's body but in her own. It was somewhat odd to see a girl in a group with seven other guys but he actually liked the idea, it was refreshing to see. Usually boys and girls didn't't mingle in Kpop groups so it was hard for male Kpop idols to interact with female Kpop idols.

Abby was not an idol but he wondered if she was good at either dancing, rapping or singing. If she wasn't good in either then her being him was not going to be easy. He asked himself if his body would be able to do all of those things for her. She still had his voice after all so not only did she look like him but she also sounded like him, at least when she talked. He was going to have to find out if she was also able to rap and dance like him by asking her once he got the chance to.

Abby had woken up extra early that morning that she had ended up waking up before Cain. She had wanted to make breakfast for him without him having to wait for it. She only hoped he liked her cooking. She had made him French toast and sausages. Because of this, Cain not only ended up waking up because of the sunlight that came in from the windows but he had also woken up because of the smell that was coming out of the kitchen. As soon as the smell had hit him, he realized that he was hungry. They had not eaten the night before except for the popcorn and a few other snacks they had while they were watching the movie.

Abby noticed that Cain had woken up.

"I made some food. Are you okay with French toast and sausage?"

"Sounds good and it actually smells good too." Cain rubbed his stomach.

She hoped that they tasted good as well. French toast and sausage were probably the easiest thing she could make so that's why she had decided on them since they were less chances of messing them up. She didn't consider herself a horrible cook but she also didn't consider herself a good one either, at least not as good as her mom was.

"I chose today's breakfast at random because I didn't know what you would like. I had forgotten to ask you. And since we hadn't actually eaten anything but snacks last night, I thought you would be hungry so I wanted the food done before you woke up. I hope you don't mind."

"Of course not. This is a fine breakfast and I appreciate it. Thank you. You actually don't have to cook for me you know. I can cook myself." Abby couldn't help but laugh at this.

"Why are you laughing?"

"I've watched you cook before. You burning yourself and then almost burning your jacket."

She didn't think Adam in general should really be allowed in the kitchen unless you wanted the whole building to burn down. And there was no way Abby was going to let Cain burn down her apartment. She also didn't mind cooking, especially if it was for her bias. But for dinner she wasn't even going to have to cook because her mom was going to take her some food from the restaurant just like she always did once a week.

With everything that had happened, Abby had forgotten all about the weekly visits from her mom. She didn't know what she was going to do once she got there. She could just tell her not to go visit but then her mom would only worry because she would think she was sick and that would only make her want to go more. She had also never told her mom not to visit her because she knew that she needed her and her mom knew so as well. So her mom would definitely find it weird and she might even ask questions, questions that Abby would not know how to answer.

"My mom will be coming tonight." She gulped as she said this.

"Oh?" Cain didn't know how to reply to such a thing.

"Should I tell her to just leave the stuff she brings me outside? Because she comes here every week to bring me my groceries along with my mail and other stuff."

Abby never went out and her mom knew this so the excuse of her being out wasn't going to work. She could lie to her and tell her that she was going to have a video chat appointment with her psychologist though. It was the only thing she could think of.

"I can just meet her. I don't mind. She'll probably worry if she's not able to see you."

Abby suspected Cain would say such a thing. He was nice and she could actually see him offering himself up in such a way. But there was one problem, he didn't speak Spanish. Her mom had to of course learn Korean in order to be able to run a restaurant in Seoul but Abby always spoke in Spanish to her parents and so did they to her.

"We speak Spanish with each other."

"So…she doesn't speak Korean?"

Cain thought that if Abby spoke Korean then so would her parents, they had to know at least some if they were living in Korea.

"She does. Almost as good as me actually but she raised me speaking Spanish and that's just the language we've always spoken with each other."

It was always Spanish with her parents, English with her siblings and Korean with Korean people. It was nice knowing more than one language but you usually just spoke one language with a person. It would be odd to talk to her mom in a language she had not been raised speaking.

"So it would be weird to speak to her in Korean all of a sudden?"

"Exactly."

"And how often does she come?"

Neither of them knew when they were going to be able to switch back but Cain knew that if their body switch went on much longer, avoiding Abby's mom was not going to be possible. He thought perhaps it wouldn't be such a bad idea to start learning some Spanish. He knew learning a language wasn't easy and that it took time but if it helped her then why not? He just hoped that she wouldn't mind teaching him.

"She comes once a week. Every Friday evening."

Cain did the calculations in his head. They were only going to be living together for two weeks, maybe even less if they were able to switch back before then. But if they didn't, that meant that he would be able to have Abby with him for two of the times that her mom was going to visit. After that, he would be left all alone to deal with the matter. Being Abby wasn't going to be as easy as he had initially thought it would be. He had thought that since she had Agoraphobia, that perhaps he wasn't going to have to meet with any people.

"Can you teach me Spanish?"

He finally asked the question he had been wanting to ask since Abby mentioned the whole situation with her mom.

"I could but it's not like you'll be speaking it fluently anytime soon. It took me years just to speak Korean as fluent as I do now. And even still I have an accent when I speak it. So it would probably be the same for you and Spanish."

"I know but it could still end up helping a bit."

Abby thought about this. He had a point. It would help if he at least knew a bit of Spanish. He still had her voice and her face so it wasn't like anyone could say it wasn't her, they would sound crazy if they did.

"Fine. But it'll most likely have to be in the nights once I'm done with work."

"You work?"

Cain was surprised to hear such a thing. He knew that she didn't really leave the house so he had assumed that she didn't work. But looking at her big luxurious apartment that wouldn't really make much sense. She had to pay for her apartment somehow. She also had nice furniture and someone that didn't have a job would not be able to own such nice things or live in such a nice place.

"Of course. From home though. I'm a freelance editor."

"Editor? What kind?"

He wanted to know what kind of work he was going to have to do once Abby officially started taking over his duties as an idol. There was no way she was going to be able to do both his job and hers, it would be too much for her to handle.

"For books. I work with authors."

"Korean authors?"

He could only hope that it was the Korean language that Abby worked with otherwise he wasn't going to be able to do anything for her.

"I can't since Korean isn't my first language. No Korean author would ever want to hire a non-Korean editor for their book. They wouldn't be able to trust me enough and the job of an editor is actually more serious than you probably think. So I only work with English and Spanish speaking authors but that's all I really need. Since English and Spanish are spoken in various countries, not only am I able to work with Americans and Mexicans but with authors from 4 other English speaking countries and 18 other Spanish speaking countries."

Those were a lot of countries, Cain was impressed. Her job seemed cool to him if she was able to work with authors from so many different places. Maybe knowing English and Spanish would benefit him considering how many countries spoke the languages. As for Korean, it was really only spoken in Korea.

Abby had finished eating and had gotten up to wash her plate, Cain observed her as she meticulously scrubbed each part. Front, back, and around the edges. She didn't just scrub it quickly and rinsed it but she actually took her time doing so. Cain counted a total of four times that she washed the plate.

He still had some food on his own plate because he had not yet finished eating. Abby had actually served him more food than she had served herself. She probably only ate half of what she gave him. He didn't know if what she ate was the normal amount she usually ate or if she had just been trying to be considerate of him and didn't eat much because she didn't want for him to end up gaining weight. He hoped she wasn't going to try starving herself for him.

Abby would usually start working as soon as she was done with breakfast but she had to wait for Cain to finish eating so that she could wash his plate. She had the foam plates her mom always brought her but she didn't feel right serving him food on something that was disposable so she decided to only go with the plastic forks but use real ceramic plates.

While she waited for him to finish eating, Abby started wiping down the kitchen counters. And just like she had meticulously washed the dish, she did so with the counters. Cain was actually a fast eater but he had probably took longer to eat because he had been watching her the whole time. She was about to start sweeping when he got up and surprised her by taking the broom from her.

"I'll sweep. Just let me wash my plate my first."

"I'm fine with sweeping and I'll wash your plate."

She tried grabbing the plate from him but Cain only held his grip on it tighter. If he was still in own his body he would have just raised it up high so she wouldn't be able to reach it but he was shorter than her now.

"You said you have to work. Why don't you just let me do all the cleaning?"

He wasn't usually one to clean but there was nothing else for him to do now that he was no longer an idol.

"I can't trust anyone with cleaning, not even my mom. She had wanted me to hire a housekeeper so they could clean for me but a housekeeper would only bring germs in with them and they wouldn't clean as well as I do."

Cain had already seen how well Abby cleaned, no one would really be able to clean as well as she did unless perhaps it was another Germaphobe. But he still wanted to help her somehow.

"Well what am I supposed to do then?"

"Just do what you normally would."

She didn't see why he would persist so much with cleaning, she had never met a single person that liked to clean.

"You mean practice dancing with my group members? Because obviously I can no longer do that."

Abby felt a burn from his words. She had spoken carelessly and she wished she could take it back.

There was a silence between them after that. Abby had work to do but Cain had nothing to do. And she was finally able to understand why he had insisted so much on cleaning. But even if she did let him sweep and wash his plate, she was probably just going to end up doing both things all over again herself. She wasn't going to be content in knowing that the plate and the floor could be cleaner.

Cain noticed Abby contemplating their situation. He was just going to have to make her feel assured.

"I'll sweep and mop the floors as many times as you want me to and I'll do the same for the plate. I saw how you washed yours, I could do the same."

Abby thought about it. She couldn't believe he had actually watched her wash her plate and just knowing that made her feel embarrassed.  Him imitating her way of cleaning would actually make her feel better but she couldn't let him do that. She wasn't the way she was because she wanted to. She didn't choose to become a Germaphobe, it just happened and it was now hard for her to change her ways but Cain still had that choice.

She wasn't going to let him become her. He couldn't become her. He was an idol and idols couldn't be Germaphobes. Mysophobia was a form of OCD and once you start doing something like cleaning things over and over again, you couldn't stop because it became a habit. A habit that was hard to give up.

"I can't let you do that."

"And why not?" He had been sure she would be okay with his suggestion.

"It becomes a habit. If you start doing the same things I do, you'll soon become like me. And I don't want your life to be ruined like that. This thing that I have is not something fun to live with. You've seen me have a panic attack and even saw me faint. Panic attacks and fainting is not uncommon for Germaphobes."

Cain didn't know such a thing was possible. It wasn't like some simple actions could change a person like that, at least he didn't think so.

"But I thought...I thought you wanted me to keep your body clean." She had desperately wanted him to take a shower after all.

"I did but then I thought about it some more and it wouldn't be right. I'm not the one that is currently inhabiting my body, you are. So in a way it's no longer my body but it's yours now. You should do whatever you want with it. Whether you want to clean it or not, that should be up to you."

"And what if I want to clean it?"

What Cain really wanted was to do the same Abby would do. To take care of her body and her apartment just like she would. He already took her body from her, he didn't want to take anything more from her, not her cleanliness or anything else. If it was something in his control, he didn't see a reason not to do it.

"Please don't. At least not any more than you would normally clean yourself." Abby's voice was shaky.

She had covered her eyes with her hands. She was crying. Cain didn't want her to cry. He took her hands off her face and grabbed a tissue from nearby to wipe the tears away. Abby was left shocked by the gesture. Cain had just touched her. And now that she no longer thought of her body as her own self but as Cain, a whole other person, she didn't want to be touched. She backed away from him.

"Please don't touch me. You're not me and only I can touch myself."

She went straight to the shower. She was going to have to forget that the body she was in was Cain's and take the hot shower she so desperately needed. She was just going to have to try hard not to look where she shouldn't and close her eyes whenever it was possible.